Thanks to SMP for my advanced copies of Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas which comes out on Tuesday - April 18th.

Where Coyotes Howl was beautifully written but might be the most depressing book I've ever read. This was a Little House on the Prairie book about life on the Wyoming prairie in the 1910s.

This is not a book for the faint of heart, there was a lot of death and hardships. The ending honestly shocked me! This might be one of the most realistic books about life during this time period. I loved the aspects of female friendships and the love story between Ellen and Charlie.

As sad as this book was, I really did enjoy it. If you're a fan of books about settling the west or homesteading/ranching I do recommend it. Just know there is a lot that may be upsetting with how realistic this is.

This book was sad. It was emotional. It was realistic. It was powerful. It was unexpected. It was beautiful. It was a love story with a beginning, middle, and end.

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I loved how it was written. I loved the characters. I pretty much loved everything about this book. I was questioning the entire time what the plot of it was. And I honestly could not figure it out. But it all comes together in the epilogue. So just hold out until the end if you are wondering where the story is going because I promise, it is unexpected but worth it.

After finishing this book, I had no words. I was so emotional that I could not even pick up another book for a long time. I just had to sit and think about this one, which I never do. This book is such a realistic story about life on the frontier, and it's making me tear up just thinking about it.

If you have trigger warnings, be sure to check them before reading because this one has a lot. However, I do think you should go in blind with this one because of how unexpected and emotional it is.

Triggers Death (lots of death, especially children death), miscarriage, stillbirth, physical and sexual abuse, fire, prostitution

Sandra Dallas never fails to transport me back in time. This may be one of my favorites from her yet! Full of joy, grief, despair, and perseverance, this book gives you a glimpse of the hardships women faced in early 1900s Wyoming. It is a book that is wonderfully written by an author that is gifted in writing historical fiction featuring strong women and heavy themes.

CW: Child loss, mental illness/disability prejudice, death, prostitution/rape, language. Overall moderate - but this is a heavy novel with heavy themes.

A beautifully written, heartwarming tale based around in the lives of early settlers in the Wyoming Territory of USA. Ellen Webster takes up a teaching position in the town of Wallace. She befriends the local women some of whose lives are so much different from her own. She falls in love with handsome cowboy Charlie Bacon and attempts to make a new life on the untamed prairie. It's a hard life but with the support of her loving husband and a few good friends she thrives on the small joys of prairie life while overcoming the trials and tribulations. This is a beautiful story, written in an easy-to-read manner and gives interesting insights into what it meant to be a woman trying to keep home and raise a family in the West of the early twentieth century. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel, releasing in April 2023!

Sandra Dallas does a great job developing a sense of place and strong setting for her novels set in the American West; I had similar feelings about her other previous novel I've read, Tallgrass. She does a great job making you feel like you're on location in Wyoming in the early 20th century, and that was probably my favorite part of the novel and honestly why I requested this as an ARC.

Unfortunately the rest of the story didn't really get me invested. I like Ellen and the relationships she develops with other women in Wyoming, but I never developed a strong emotional attachment to her. She and Charlie supposedly have an all-time great love but we honestly don't see much of it beyond the fact that unlike many of the other men in this novel he never beats or is otherwise abusive to her. I know the stereotype of cowboys during this period is of them being emotionally reticent, but I didn't find their great love story particularly believable. After the halfway point the book is pretty much a series of rotating tragedies (which I'm sure is accurate to the time period) but it was hard to get emotionally invested in many of them.

If you're looking for a quick novel on life in Wyoming in the early 1900's you could certainly do worse than this; the book is readable and again provides a great sense of place. The character development and emotional relatability did leave a bit to be desired for me.

Set in the early 1920s on the High Plains of Wyoming, Sandra Dallas portrays the realistic life of a couple attempting to piece together a homestead. Nature is against them with snowy winters and hostile hot summers. The main characters are a young teacher from Iowa who falls in love with a cowboy and marries him. Their ranch is several miles from the town so making friends in the area is essential for social and tremulous times on the prairie. What makes life bearable is their love for each other. So realistic of the hardships of living in this part of the country during the early 1900s that, for me, was so heartbreaking yet I was fascinated and couldn’t put this book down. It touches on societal issues; thus be aware that there are subjects that might be hard to read. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this historical fiction; the review is my honest opinion.

When Ellen Webster takes a teaching job in Wallace, Wyoming, she has no idea how her life will change. Wallace is a far cry from the modernized city of Fort Madison, Iowa, from which she came. Wallace is brutal, barren, and poverty-stricken. Most teachers don't last a year.

But within the first year, Ellen is embracing the difficult life on the high plains, and has married a handsome, charming cowboy who loves her dearly. Ellen is a respected schoolteacher, and has become part of the community, and befriended many of the wives. Ellen is committed to her husband and this town, and intends on staying for the long haul... though it will be far from easy.

Life on the frontier is harsh and unforgiving. Tragedy after tragedy strikes Wallace and it's people, and the women must pull together to get through.

Thoughts: Wow! This is my first Dallas novel, but definitely not my last. This was absolutely stunning. It's one of the saddest books I've read, but breathtakingly beautiful. It's poignant and raw and descriptive and so incredibly moving. It evokes so many emotions, and taught me so much about life on the frontier. These people struggled so hard, and their conditions led to so many tragedies... poverty, hunger, abuse, assault, and death. So much death. But it wasn't all bad. The love between Ellen and her husband was such a palpable thing. They loved so fiercely. And the friendship and comradery between the women was so special. The women had such a sense of community and belonging, and looking out for one another. I adored this aspect.

I read along with the audiobook, which was expertly performed by Stephanie Németh-Parker. Parker did an outstanding job with this performance and it definitely enhanced my enjoyment. I highly recommend this format!

This book is not for the faint of heart, and please check TWs.

Thank you St Martin's and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copies. What a gorgeous novel! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to read it.

My review will be posted on Instagram today.

I really enjoyed Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas. It takes place in the early 20th century west and follows teacher turned rancher’s wife, Ellen and her cowboy, Charlie. These two characters struggle through many hardships and challenges but through it all, they have each other. Such a beautifully sad story. I was fully immersed in reading Where Coyotes Howl. I cant wait to read more from Sandra Dallas.

When Ellen moves from Iowa in the early 1900s to take a teaching job on the Wyoming plains, the locals tell her that past teachers last only a year or less because of the harsh environment. Ellen does give up teaching but only after she meets, falls in love with and marries Charlie, a local cowboy. Ellen and Charlie try to make a go at ranching and become part of the community as they experience numerous hardships of their own as well as those of their friends and neighbors.
I have read 7 or 8 prior novels by Sandra Dallas and enjoyed them all but this is definitely my favorite. After living in Colorado and working in Wyoming, I can really appreciate how well she captures the history of this area. Wyoming’s climate, terrain and the isolated environment is harsh now so it’s hard to imagine how early settlers survived there. Dallas does an excellent job of capturing and vividly describing the experiences of her characters. Ellen’s friendships with her neighbors are special and all of their survival stories can be heart wrenching as well as heartwarming and demonstrate their reliance on each other. This story definitely taps into lots of emotions and the pace is just right.
#NetGalley, #Sandra Dallas, #St. Martin’s Press.

This book was a real tear-jerker, and I'm sure a much more accurate depiction of life on the frontier than the "Little House" books of my youth. Taking place in 1916, it tells the story of Ellen, who comes to Wyoming as a school teacher. When she falls in love with Charlie Bacon, Ellen embraces life in Wyoming with all of its challenges, beauty, and heartache.

The book doesn't exaggerate the extreme weather in Wyoming at all - and I cannot imagine living there 100 years ago! I think the women especially were heroes. This was a love story, but also a story of friendship, family, and survival.

Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas was both a heartwarming yet heartbreaking novel that was written with attention to detail. It was a character driven book that was well plotted. I particularly enjoyed the strong female characters in Where Coyotes Howl. I actually listened to the audiobook version of Where Coyotes Howl. It was performed by Stephanie Nemeth-Parker who did a fine job narrating this audiobook. She was able to easily distinguish between the various characters. Her performance made this audiobook an easy listen for me.

In the early twentieth century, Ellen Webster found herself in Wallace, Wyoming. She had responded to an advertisement that was seeking a teacher. She had been teaching and living in Iowa but was up for a challenge and a change in her life. Ellen could not have prepared herself for the type of life that she was to face in Wallace, though. It seemed that the town had had difficulty holding on to a teacher for more than the one year each teacher promised. Would Ellen be the exception to the rule or would she become another statistic like her predecessors?

When Ellen met Charlie Bacon, an honest to goodness cowboy who also happened to be quite handsome and smitten with Ellen, the two formed an easy friendship. At a box lunch church function, Charlie paid an unheard of eight dollars to purchase the box lunch Ellen had prepared. That was the start of a relationship that began as friends and ended with a beautiful marriage. Charlie had always aspired to become a rancher. Before their marriage, Charlie built Ellen and himself a small but well constructed home on the acreage he had purchased. They would begin their marriage on the prairie. The two of them shared a strong love and devotion to one another. Life on the prairie would prove to be hard and difficult and would test their limits.

Ellen gave up her teaching position when she married Charlie even though many wanted her to continue teaching their children. As a rancher’s wife, it would have reflected poorly on Charlie if she had continued to teach. It would have been looked on by others as if Charlie could not support his new wife. Ellen quickly learned how to perform all the tasks she was expected to perform. In addition, Ellen formed strong bonds with the other women that lived nearby on the prairie. Everyone that lived on the prairie learned very quickly that they looked out for one another.

Living on the prairie, brought many hardships. The winters were harsh with dangerously cold temperatures, blinding blizzards and a season that seemed to last far longer than expected. In the summer, the extreme heat was excessive and made ordinary chores almost impossible to carry out. Ellen and Charlie were made to face many challenges and even tragedies over the years they lived as husband and wife. They were often strapped for money which made obtaining the necessities they required very difficult at times. Food was often scarce and potatoes became their staple food. The love that Ellen and Charlie shared more than often helped them endure all the pain, grief and suffering that they were confronted with.

Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas touched upon domestic violence, loyalty, friendship, child abuse, alcoholism, prostitution, marriage, hardships, isolation, loneliness, harsh and extreme weather conditions, love and suicide. I really enjoyed the strong, determined and supportive women characters that Sandra Dallas rendered in her book. Sandra Dallas proved to be a masterful storyteller who brilliantly told the story of these courageous women who had lived on the prairie of Wyoming during those times. Her research was impeccable throughout this well written historical novel. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Where Coyotes Howl and highly recommend it. Publication is set for April 18, 2023.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas through Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased and honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I ended up with both an ARC and an ALC of this book. This is the story of a couple and survival in Wyoming in 1916. I found it intriguing and also really disheartening. I have no doubt that Dallas described life as it was, but what an emotionally devastating story. The story of Ellen and Charlie is a love story, but also a story of loss and grieving. Through them and the secondary characters, the reader will read about death (mostly children), mental and physical abuse, miscarriage, starvation, loneliness and suicide and isolation due to weather. Did I tear up? Yes. Don't read if you're already in a dark place in your life.

Not everything about this book is dark. Ellen and Charlie are really good people. Ellen befriends even the prostitutes in town and is a very loyal friend. Charlie is a kind and loving man, husband and father. The love between husband and wife is very real and touching, but if you need an HEA to be satisfied, go find another book.

For the audiobook, the narration by Stephanie Nemeth-Parker was superb.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies. All thoughts are my own.

Know that Dallas doesn't pull any punches in this atmospheric and wonderful love story between Charlie and Ellen. It's the early 1900s and she's the new school teacher in a small Wyoming town and when she meets Charlie, a cowboy who wants to be a rancher, she falls hard. So hard that she moves with him to a small house on the prairie- miles from neighbors but she finds a special friend in Gladys and support at the big ranch. And she keeps close with Ruth, her former landlady whose husband is, well awful. Ellen and Charlie have a tight budget and a tough life but all seems good and romantic until one night there's a tragedy. Ellen rebounds and their life goes on with joy but know that nothing is certain on the prairie. This gets grim in spots but sadly it's also a realistic portrayal of life in these circumstances. It soars on the atmospherics and the storytelling is terrific. It became a real page turner for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Great historical fiction.

This story was so profoundly sad but so well written. Set in the early 1900s in Wyoming, it is the story of the struggles and challenges of first settlers on the prairie. A schoolteacher, Ellen, comes new to town from Iowa and falls in love with a cowboy, Charlie. After they marry, they strive to make a life on the prairie as ranchers, dealing with joys and many many hardships. Making friends, not being judgmental, and supporting others around them is essential to their survival. Not everyone who comes to Wallace Wyoming survives, and many leave, unable to live in such a desolate area where coyotes howl. But Ellen and Charlie are resilient and have such tenacity and such love that helps them to stay. But besides joy, they experience tragedy. I was hooked from the first page until the last. Every time Charlie and Ellen are knocked down, they seem to get back up and continue on. But be warned, this is heart wrenching. There are some unexpected twists in this very realistic account of the courage of those who chose to forge their destiny in a new land on the prairie. Again, well-written. The author takes you there and makes you feel one with the characters. This was a time in history that I was not familiar with, and I find it interesting to hear about the trials realistically and see the courage of early pioneers and not have it glossed over with a pollyanna theme. I recommend this book.

What a sad story! Living in western Kansas I can understand the hardships, loneliness, and difficulty living in eastern Wyoming. The story was vivid and wonderful, I guess I would have liked a happier ending.

Where Coyotes Howl is written so vividly you can hear the wind howl, feel the cold but most importantly you empathize with Ellen and Charlie and the settlers of Wallace Wyoming.

Together Ellen and Charlie make a life together that will make you smile, make you cry and at the same time admire their strength .

Wallace is a community that supports each other in good times and bad times.

It is a book about love, friendship, resilience.

Where Coyotes Howl is a heart warming and heart breaking story that will stay with me for a very long time.

I just completed this book and I am speechless, all I can say is this is a breathtaking beautiful love story. The story of Ellen and Charlie Bacon and their life in Wyoming in the early 1900’s is just a wonderful story, a testament to their love, devotion, and dedication to a life of hardship and love. I enjoyed all the characters in this book, even the nasty, flawed ones. The author’s vivid descriptions of life in Wyoming were very visual for me. I have read other books by this author but this is my absolute favorite, I would highly recommend this well written wonderful story.

I enjoyed this books ability to transform me right into the book. The setting was very disruptive, and the hardships and relationship’s pulled at your heartstring. I appreciated the writing style, she definitely knows how to make you feel emotionally invested in the characters and her books.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, overall!

In “Where Coyotes Howl”, Sandra Dallas has written a love letter to the Early American West, specifically the people that settled the plains of Wyoming in the early 20th century. She describes a heartbreaking, difficult life that was made more challenging, especially for women, due to poverty, societal norms and natural disasters.

I really appreciated that the author didn’t feel the need to add any unnecessary drama. The setting was dramatic enough. Instead, what we get is a colorful cast of characters separated by vast distances and very different circumstances coming together and relying on each other to survive.

There were reminders every now and then that another world was available to these homesteaders. Characters visit from big cities where there are good jobs, better medical care and modern conveniences like indoor plumbing. Instead, the characters in this story made the choice each day to stay and support each other.

I read this in one sitting, mostly due to the fact that I needed to find out what was going to happen. I will be read more by this author, and recommending this book.

I beautiful historical fiction novel! I enjoyed every moment of this emotional and fascinating journey. It definitely gave me “where the lost wander” vibes. Well done

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Life was hard and sad in the Old West, this story demonstrates that fact. But these were very much one dimensional characters, the good were very good and the bad were very bad. As much as the MC's endured, I never felt connected to them or their lives.

2.75☆